Experiences labelled with 'Vatican City'
Walking through the Vatican City, I anticipated my first up-close-and-personal view of St Peter's Basilica. Would it be just another church among the many churches in the world? As I approached St. Peter's Basilica, with my eyes drawn upwards, I was left absolutely breathless. It was love at first sight. Rome is known as the "monumental city," and after spending a few days there I can say with certainty that this is true. However, many of these monuments were commissioned solely for posterity; for an Emperor or Pope to outdo the one before him. This takes away from the history and the intrigue of these monuments, but St Peter's Basilica manages to step outside of this shadow and stand apart from them. St Peter's Basilica ...
The Sistine Chapel is one of the Vatican's most visited and well-known attractions, and also serves as a venue for important Papal Masses. Papal conclaves—in which the College of Cardinals elects a new Pope—have been held at the Sistine Chapel since 1455, and the first Mass inside the Sistine Chapel was held on 15 August 1483 to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption. Originally, the Sistine Chapel was known as the Cappella Maggiore, or Greater Chapel. The Chapel was used then, as it is now, for smaller masses not attended by the public. Pope Sixtus IV undertook to restore the Sistine Chapel between 1477 and 1480. Today, the Sistine Chapel continues to bear Sixtus IV's name. It wasn't until the next century, and the papacy ...
